


Tommy Knows: "Dodger"

by ThomE_Gemcity_06



Series: Eloquence of a Secret [15]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon-divergence, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s1e15 - “Dodger", Friendship, Gen, Secrets, Team-up! in the Field, Tommy Knows!, casework, relationship drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-06-19
Packaged: 2018-11-16 03:56:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11245812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThomE_Gemcity_06/pseuds/ThomE_Gemcity_06
Summary: Tommy's starting to see a correlation here but he's above petty jealousy, now he just hopes Diggle's training stuck.





	Tommy Knows: "Dodger"

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow, its episodes or its characters.   
> Tag: Season 1, Episode 15 - "Dodger"

**aRRoW**

Diggle was teaching him about hand movement, it was almost like a game of Patty Cake but with more violence. "How long are we going to do this?" Tommy whined. A drip of sweat was slowly trailing down the side of his face and he really wanted to wipe it away.

"Until I say so, Merlyn. Now put some footwork into it." And he moved, messing Tommy's rhythm and a fist impacted against his stomach; it wasn't hard enough to do any damage or make him double over, just a lesson with a bit of bite. "You think your opponent will just stand still?"

"No." Tommy circled with Diggle. "But maybe if I say please."

"These won't be grade-school fights, Tommy." Oliver said. "These people will kill you, given the chance. So don't give them the chance." And he went to town on the dummy, his bamboo sticks making a quick succession of sharp _tat!tat!tats!,_ the movement so fast they were just a blur.

"Aht!" Tommy cursed as he felt the sting of Diggle's palm against his cheek.

"Don't get distracted." Tommy muttered under his breath, but he picked up the pace, hoping he could slip something through Diggle's solid wall. "And you should take it easy if you plan on going out for a name tonight." He addressed Oliver.

"This is me taking it easy." And he snapped his bamboo stick over one of the protruding poles from the post.

"I think you should get a refund on that bamboo, buddy." Tommy remarked. "I don't think it's supposed to snap like that."

"You find the weak point and apply pressure." He tossed the broken bamboo, and grabbed a towel.

"So, who's the unlucky guy tonight?" Felicity questioned starkly from where she was stationed at the computer hub.

Oliver sent a brief glower her way, but turned back to the mat, addressing Diggle. "Ken Williams. His pyramid scheme stole millions. People didn't just lose their homes, their lives were ruined." He tossed the towel and slipped on his tee. 

"And what exactly do you plan on doing when you find him?"

"Give him a warning." He turned to her with a challenging tone.

She challenged right back. "I pulled up some information on Williams. Did you know he's a widowed father of a ten-year-old boy?"

"You said you didn't want any part in my crusade,"

"I don't." She stood. "I'm here to find Walter but that doesn't mean being an accessory to orphaning little kids."

He stepped forward. "I said it was just a warning."

"Does this 'warning' include an arrow sticking out of one of his body parts?" she replied stoutly. "Has it ever occurred to you that you could do some good in this city? Beyond recovering peoples' stock portfolios and saving accounts, I mean."

"What exactly is it that you do at QC?"

"Keep the machines running and not have my pockets lined." She retorted with an angry furrow to her brow.

"You're not the only one who knows how to reboot my system." He growled.

"I made a mistake."

"I don't disagree." He stared down at her.

Diggle struck. Tommy wasn't even paying attention to him anymore, but his arm shot up and he deflected the blow. Diggle was impressed, but he let his admonishment go as Tommy side-stepped off the mat.

"Back off, Oliver." Tommy warned.

"No." Felicity held up a palm and stopped Tommy's advance. She turned her glare back onto the blond man. "I meant signing on with you. Even provisionally to find Walter." She grabbed her purse and jacket and left up the stairs.

"What was that for?" Tommy demanded, rounding on Oliver.

"I'm starting to think bringing Felicity in was a bad idea." Oliver said.

"Why? Because she disagreed with you?" Tommy scoffed in disgust at his friend. "Diggle and I disagree with you all the time. Isn't that the whole point? I think this would be a pretty ugly place if we were all of the same opinion. We each bring something to the game."

"She knows nothing about what it's like, out there, under The Hood."

"She can't and doesn't have to." Tommy peered at him. "But that's why you're upset, isn't it? You care what she thinks. No need to be embarrassed about it!" He smirked at Oliver classic grumpy expression.

"Tommy!"

Tommy gave a quiet chuckle, but sobered. "We need her, Oliver. To find Walter, to do things better. I'm sure in a few years, probably more, either one of us could get to sub pare computer skills compared to hers. But we need her, now. This is what she brings to the team."

Oliver exhaled, running a hand over his expression. "That warehouse was a bad lead."

"It wasn't a bad lead," Tommy corrected, "It was an old lead. The place had been cleaned before you got a look at it."

"Back on the mat, Tommy." Oliver pointed in acceptance.

He was surprised, "What?"

"I want to see if Diggle's made any progress." He stepped onto the workout mat. "Come on."

"I thought you were going out." He tried to deflect.

"Tommy!"

"Ok! Ok!" he moved back onto the mat.

"Easy, Oliver." Diggle said.

"I've only been doing this for a few months." Tommy defended himself.

"I was further along than you in two weeks." Oliver said.

"That's different. You were in a literal life-or-death situation."

"And that's exactly what it will be out there." And Oliver moved in, not giving him time to think. Tommy didn't even last ten seconds.

**X**

"It's a good thing you left when you did." Tommy came into the single occupied office without knocking, shutting the door.

She wasn't at all surprised to see him. "Did I miss a Mr. Grouchy Hood rant?"

"Yes, but what I meant was... It would have been embarrassing if you'd seen how easily Oliver wiped the floor with my ass, face—whole body, really."

Felicity let out a snort and quickly covered her mouth and nose with her hands. "I'm sorry, that's not funny."

"Don't worry, your reaction was exactly what I was going for." He wheeled over a chair from one of the other desks in the office, all of which never seemed to be occupied whenever he came around. "Is everyone else around here on a perpetual coffee break?"

"No, they just come back at the worst times."

"Good thing I locked the door." He waggled his brows.

"What?" she stammered, her cheeks burning at the implication her mind instantly went to.

He leaned his elbow on the corner of her desk, his chin cupped in his palm. "Don't worry, Smoak. When I choose to ravish you, it won't be in your cubicle at work." He continued before she could realized he said 'when' and not 'if' with the most absurd question he could think of, "Can you believe they killed Ned Stark?"

She gaped at him for a minute, completely thrown. "You're not going to ask me the obvious question?" she asked in surprise.

"If you want me to, sure," he shrugged. "Otherwise... Who do you think should sit on the Iron Throne?"

"Okay, we're going to need coffee for this." She stood, picking up her QC Mug. "How do you take it, Merlyn?"

"Black, two sugar." He smiled.

It wasn't a minute later that he heard Oliver's voice outside the door. "Maybe we should come back later..."

"Or maybe we should wait." Diggle returned, stepping into the office. "This is serious."

"You're right," Tommy spoke up. "We could have carpooled and been involved in saving the environment."

"What are you doing here?" Oliver questioned suspiciously.

"Checking on Felicity." He leaned back in the chair. "You?"

"Grovelling." Diggle spoke before Oliver could. "He's going to grovel his ass off because if her next attempt of consciousness leads her to the police--"

"No, she won't say anything." Oliver shook his head with conviction. "I had to make the same calculations when you found out about me."

"And you didn't doubt for one second that I would go to the cops?" he didn't seem convinced.

"That was all me." Tommy admitted. "Oliver was all for believing in you. I wanted to cut my losses and posed a vote for a little vacation in the Bahamas."

"Now _that_ I believe." Diggle nodded at Tommy. He looked over at Oliver, "But I _don't_ believe you were just going to hang everything on faith, Oliver. What was your Plan B? "

Oliver paused, looking back, his expression without remorse as he said truthfully, "I would have put an arrow in you."

Diggle blinked. "Really? You would have killed me." Oliver's steady expression was confirmation enough. He ran a hand over his scalp. "Please tell me that's not your plan if Felicity doesn't fall for your grovelling."

"It's not." Tommy spoke for him in a hard voice, staring with steel eyes. "The thought’s never crossed his mind. And if it did, as fleetingly as a blink, I would disown him and never forgive him. And then I would put an arrow in him myself!"

"Put an arrow in anyone tonight?" Felicity walked in, unsurprised to find the company of two more, two coffee cups in hand; luckily having come in upon the stony silence instead of the conversation. "I made a bet with myself on how quickly you would visit me and tell me not to reveal your secret. I won." She handed Tommy his cup and sat in her computer chair.

"No. In fact," Oliver said. "I didn't even have to draw. Ken Williams returned the money in time to put his son to bed."

She took a sip of coffee. "Am I supposed to impressed?" she turned to her corner monitor, bring up a live news feed.

"Actually, I was hoping that I could get you to change your mind." Oliver contradicted her assumption. "I was worked up on adrenaline last night and I didn't exactly put my best foot forward. I was hoping you'd give me the opportunity now."

"We'd like to remind the public we are coordinating efforts with Interpol as the Dodger operates primarily in Europe. They have advised us to warn the public that he is considered armed and extremely dangerous.--"

"I've heard about this guy." Diggle said, nodding at the monitor. "They call him the Dodger because he avoids getting his hands dirty; he uses hostages to do the stealing for him."

"How?" Oliver wondered.

"Puts a bomb collar around their necks. Last year, a guy in Madrid didn't steal what the Dodger told him to—took his head right off. Literally."

"This psycho is in Starling now?" Felicity said. She gave Oliver a deadpan stare, "Too bad his name's not in your notebook."

"You know," Oliver crossed his arms. "Not all the people I go after are on the List. Every once in a while I make an exception. Hostage-taking jewel-thief, for example." He cocked his head at her. "So why don't you help us take him down?"

Tommy grinned around at them. "This seemed like something that needs to be talked about with a round of Big Belly Burgers."

**X**

Tommy, Oliver, and Diggle carpooled to the Starling City Cancer Society Fundraiser Auction, each dressed in their finery for the occasion. Oliver had made a last-minute donation and put the Queen Broach up in the auction with the hope of attracting The Dodger. Each were already wearing an earpiece and just waiting on Felicity's arrival.

"The cops are here." Diggle noted quietly, spotting McKenna Hall and Quentin Lance.

"Not exactly who I was hoping for," Oliver uttered, his eyes ever searching for the man he had glimpsed back at the fence's warehouse before the collar exploded.

"And I have eyes on exactly who I was looking for," Tommy said, his eyes across the room on the loose wavy head of blond hair. She was in a sparkly gold number that looked gorgeous on her, a clutch strap over her bare shoulder and absent her glasses.

Her head was ducked as she weaved through the crowd of the rich like an expert, her focus on her cell. "I'm getting a good signal from the GPS I put into your family broach." She informed them when she arrived. "I can track it on my phone."

"Good." Oliver nodded

"You've outdone yourself, Ms. Smoak." Tommy smiled at her. "As smoking as ever."

"Still with the terrible puns, Merlyn?" Diggle said.

Tommy ignored the man. "You forgot a couple things, though." He told her smoothly.

"I did?" she asked self-consciously, knowing she remembered her underwear.

"Yeah." And in the guise of tucking her hair behind her ear, he slipped the comm. earwig in.

"Thanks." Felicity's cheeks went hot and she gave a nervous chuckle, her hand ghosting Tommy's motion at the unfamiliar feel of the comm. "You said a couple things."

"Yes, just one last thing to solidify your cover." And he spun on his dress shoed heel, coming to a stop at her side. He proffered the crook of his elbow, "Your scion arm candy."

She tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow with a smirk. "How faux pas of me."

"Good thing I swooped in when I did. Come on," and he spun them away from the pair of men and into the crowd.

Oliver rolled his eyes. " _Just keep your eyes open_ ," he said over the open mic.

" _And tell us if there's any movement on that tracker, Felicity_." Diggle reminded.

"Whoa!" Felicity uttered a surprised sound. "Sorry." She said when Tommy gave her an amused look. "I'm not used to having three men in me. I mean, talking in me-- at me-- through an earpiece. Not actually ins-- you all understand what I mean."

Tommy chuckled and squeezed the hand in his elbow comfortingly. "Unfortunately I understand all too well. Those two aren't the best company in your ear," he teased.

" _And you're just a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, Merlyn."_ Diggle said sarcastically.

"I am so your pot of gold." Tommy released Felicity’s hand and turned to stop the waiter.

Felicity checked her phone. "We've got movement." she said in surprise.

" _Where?"_ Oliver growled.

A man brushed by her and she raised her head, her eyes falling on the blue-jewelled broach cupped discreetly ay his side. "Hey, that broach was donated by the Queen family." She blurted, stopping the man in his tracks. "If you want it, you have to bid."

"Actually, I thought I'd just take it." The Dodger smiled.

"Oliver!" Tommy shouted, dropping the Champaign glasses without thought. Taking the scene in through his peripheral, he swung around on his heel, interjecting himself into Felicity's place, knocking her away as his hand came up and grabbed The Dodger's wrist of the hand he'd been about to use to snap the bomb collar onto the woman.

"Tommy!" she caught herself on a couple standing by the displays.

"Get everyone away from here!" he told her.

The Dodger didn't let the surprise stall him and was already reaching into his jacket, likely to pull out his favoured electric wand. Tommy released one of his hands and quickly grabbed The Dodger's other wrist with it. Locking them. There wasn't much movement between them, even as they strained against each other for dominance. 

Panicking, Felicity shouted: "BOMB! Everybody out! BOMB!"

People looked at her in shock, but then they saw Tommy and The Dodger struggling in a weird display, the ominous blinking collar held out—realization dawned, they'd seen the news and soon there was a clamour and everyone was rushing to leave, giving the pair a wide breadth.

"Don't be stupid," The Dodger said. "Protecting your girlfriend is very admiral, but is this worth it? You have no idea what I have in my other hand."

"A trigger or Taser," Tommy said. "Either way you'll get caught in the crossfire. So you tell me... is it worth it?" he stance briefly gave as he raised his foot, but quickly solidified again as came back onto of The Dodger's foot, pinioning the man.

The Dodger's other leg shifted back, his knee bending slightly, compensating.

And suddenly Tommy saw movement beyond The Dodger's form, it was Lance and McKenna, guns drawn—arriving before The Hood could. "Nobody move!"

"What does it look like?" Tommy ground through his teeth. Where the hell was Oliver, or more accurately, The Hood. He caught movement to his left as Diggle slipped in and quickly grabbed Felicity away. 

The Dodger, seeing the split second of inattention, took advantage. He suddenly dropped his weight backward, twisting to the side. Tommy was forced to either release his hold or follow him. And no way was Tommy letting this bastard go. So he put the move to his own advantage; following The Dodger's movement and rolling them so Tommy landed on top.

They grunted as they hit the floor. Tommy got an elbow in the gut, his hand losing its grip on the arm between them, but he managed to keep hold of the bomb collar hand. Dodger bucked beneath him. Not wanting to get stunned again so soon and would rather not be blown up, Tommy quickly cracked his head down.

The Dodger gave a shout as Tommy connected with his nose, then slugged the man—twice—once in the ribs, then the face. The Dodger was senseless underneath him. Tommy shifted his grip on his wrist, taking the collar from him. Panting, he shifted back from the thief.

"Got it," he said, turning to look at Lance. He didn't even see The Dodger move, until there was a glint and then the man cried out, a flechette sticking through his hand.

"The Hood is on the premises. Be on the lookout!" Lance shouted into his talkie.

"Put it down, Merlyn." McKenna ordered. "And step away."

"Right." Tommy slowly set the primed collar down, and with slippery fingers, quickly pocketed the Queen Broach where it had fallen by The Dodger's thigh. He backed away.

McKenna quickly cuffed The Dodger and read him his rights. Lance got hold of the trigger and disarmed the bomb.

Tommy found Oliver in the company with Diggle and Felicity. "Thank you," he whispered gratefully to his best-friend.

Oliver nodded. "Sorry I couldn't do more."

"You did enough at just the right moment."

"Looks like Diggle's training paid off," Oliver said. Definitely not bad for his first time in the field.

"God," he rubbed his forehead with a grimace. "Guess my head's not as hard as we thought."

"I'm so sorry, Tommy." Felicity said. "He just bumped right into me and caught me by surprise."

Tommy rubbed her forearm reassuringly. "I'm just glad I was fast enough—he almost got that collar on you." He gave a shudder at the thought.

"Mr Merlyn." Lance called.

"Oh, goodie," Tommy muttered. He handed to broach to Felicity, "Maybe you should take out the tracker from that." He turned, blocking view of Felicity, "Det. Lance..."

f

**aRROW**

**Author's Note:**

> Well? huh, huh, huh? Good thing Tommy was there, right? What do you think?
> 
> **DELETED TEXT:**  
>  FELICITY: "How'd your guys' dates go?"  
> OLIVER: "Great."   
> DIGGLE: "Awesome."  
> FELICITY: "You two are horrible liars. One truth to this conversation... Tommy and my's dinner was great. Not that it was a date. Not that I wouldn't date Tommy. What I mean to say is... it was a friendly dinner. A dinner between friends-- who happen to be a man and woman-- because that's a thing. Men and woman can be friends, too.   
> And back to this;" she turned to the computer, "So this guys stealing things and killing people, huh? Where's he when you need him?  
> ...  
> TOMMY: "How is this fair? She just joined Team Hood and you're already letting her out into the field. I fell like my contributions haven't truly been considered here." / "I'm noticing a disturbing theme here, guys." / "A correlation."  
> DIGGLE: "Did you come up with the bug for McKenna's phone or the tracker in the necklace?"  
> TOMMY: "Obviously not." / "I'm just helping with Felicity's disguise, her arm candy. But just for clarification, the comms. were my idea... Still don't get why I didn't get one."  
> OLIVER: "There were only three, we had to prioritise."  
> TOMMY: "No, I totally get it. I'm like the mascot now, right? Diggle's the partner. Felicity's the tech support, and I'm just the encouragement -- like your mom at the baseball game that you appreciate by it's just embarrassing to been seen in public with. So I guess, thanks for letting me out in the public, guys, 'preciate it."  
> FELICITY: "You make very good arm candy." Felicity told him tentatively.   
> TOMMY: grinned. "Believe me, I know. Now let me awe you." And he swung away from Oliver and Diggle without another word.  
> ...  
> TOMMY: "You never cease to amaze, Smoak. As smoking as ever."  
> FELICITY: "Very cleaver, Merlyn. How about... you clean up like magic." / "This is some wizard's glamour spell, right?"  
> ...  
> FELICITY: "God. This is going to take a minute to get used to." / "Yeah. I never thought I'd have three men in me. I mean talking in me-- at me-- through a comm. in my ear and nowhere else."  
> X


End file.
